Evelina Adams's will was a will of conditions, for unto it she had
affixed two more, and those affected her beloved cousin Evelina
Leonard. It was notable that "beloved" had not preceded her cousin
Martha Loomis's name in the will. No pretence of love, when she felt
none, had she ever made in her life. The entire property of Evelina
Adams, spinster, deceased, with the exception of Widow Martha
Loomis's provision, fell to this beloved young Evelina Leonard,
subject to two conditions--firstly, she was never to enter into
matrimony, with any person whomsoever, at any time whatsoever;
secondly, she was never to let the said spinster Evelina Adams's
garden, situated at the rear and southward of the house known as the
Squire Adams house, die through any neglect of hers. Due allowance
was to be made for the dispensations of Providence: for hail and
withering frost and long-continued drought, and for times wherein the
said Evelina Leonard might, by reason of being confined to the house
by sickness, be prevented from attending to the needs of the growing
plants, and the verdict in such cases was to rest with the minister
and the deacons of the church. But should this beloved Evelina love
and wed, or should she let, through any wilful neglect, that garden
perish in the season of flowers, all that goodly property would she
forfeit to a person unknown, whose name, enclosed in a sealed
envelope, was to be held meantime in the hands of the executor, who
had also drawn up the will, Lawyer Joshua Lang.
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